Stanford football: Why Barry Sanders chose not to attend same school as his famous dad

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Army All-American Barry Sanders cheers for his teammates with his mother Aletha House and his little brother, 3-year-old Terrance Johnson during a ceremony at Heritage Hall High School in Oklahoma City , Monday, October 4, 2011. (Courtesy of Steve Gooch)

The story goes that Barry Sanders was sold on playing football at Stanford when, during a recruiting visit, he walked the campus with Andrew Luck and saw how the star quarterback went unnoticed among the student body.

As the son of the Hall of Fame running back of the same name, Sanders craved a similar anonymity.

“That’s been exaggerated a little bit,” Sanders said. “That was one attraction, but not the deciding factor.”

Sanders, the best-known name among the Stanford recruiting class that’s expected to sign Wednesday, is not running from anything. Well, besides would-be tacklers.

A poised and charismatic young man from Oklahoma City, Sanders is perfectly comfortable following in the cleat marks of a famous father and confident he’ll carve out his own football identity.

But he politely notes one thing about his name. It’s just Barry Sanders.

“I hear that every day, that I’m junior,” said Sanders, whose middle name James is different from his dad’s.

“He did it all,” Bogert said. “He never came off the field. He played cornerback for us on defense. Barry is a pretty good catch for Stanford. They really like him on offense because he’s got another gear. When he gets going, he really goes.”

Just like his father.

The elder Barry Sanders arguably was the most exciting runner in NFL history — perhaps with only Walter Payton and Gale Sayers doing the arguing.

After winning the 1988 Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma State with a dazzling 2,628-yard season, the Kansas native gained 15,269 yards in 10 years with the Detroit Lions.

Then, in 1999, at age 31, the intensely private Sanders abruptly walked away from football and the losing-plagued Lions, saying the game no longer was fun.

At 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, the younger Sanders is taller than his 5-8 father. But they bear an uncanny resemblance on the field.

“They both have this real quick movement of the head, looking back as they run down the field,” Bogert said. “It’s like the Sanders trademark. And they can both cut. It’s a natural ability that not many people have. They can make seven, eight, nine cuts in a 4-yard run.”

Sanders, whose parents were never married, was raised by his mother, Aletha House.

“Just an amazing person,” he said of his mom.

His 43-year-old father lives in a Detroit suburb with his wife and three other children. But he has business interests in Oklahoma and has been an active part in his eldest child’s life. But one thing they don’t discuss much is football.

“I’m my own player,” the son said. “But what I’ve learned is that we’re similar off the field, and some of that transfers to football. We think the game the same way. We rarely talk much about recruiting or anything. When we talk, it’s a normal dad-son conversation.”

With a 3.4 grade-point average, Sanders worked hard to get a college entrance test score that would meet Stanford’s requirements — taking the ACT and SAT a combined seven times.

There had been considerable mystery in Oklahoma about where he would attend college, and pressure for him to attend his father’s alma mater was mounting. When he stood before the television cameras earlier this month at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl to make his announcement, the caps of four schools were on a table in front of him — Stanford, Oklahoma State, Alabama and Florida State.

The truth is Sanders long had his heart set on Stanford. But it wasn’t until a day earlier that Cardinal coach David Shaw told him he had been admitted.

With his parents behind him, he chose a different path from his father by putting on the Stanford hat.

“I was looking at it more as a football player,” he said. “Would I feel comfortable in the offense? After being around Oklahoma State so much the last couple of years, I just thought Stanford would be a better place for me. It had nothing to do with pressure or anything else.”

At the Fiesta Bowl, where Stanford lost to Oklahoma State, Luck said he thought Sanders would be a great fit on The Farm and that it’s easy to be anonymous.

“On campus we have the president’s daughter (Chelsea Clinton), Michelle Wie, professional golfers,” Luck said of recent students. “People respect each other’s privacy. No one is going to bang on your dorm room or (be) yelling across during class. It has been nice to sort of live your life as a student-athlete.”

Sanders is looking forward to it.

“I remember after my first trip, I told my mom, ‘This is the place where I want to be,’ ” he said. “It was just a good feeling.”

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